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President Joe Biden's efforts to forgive student loan debt, which suffered a major setback in the Supreme Court, have drawn ire from political opponents on both sides of the political aisle.
Among conservatives, Biden's proposals to eliminate some of that debt are viewed as an attempt to "bribe" the younger voters his party has traditionally relied on to win, and they describe such efforts as a disservice to the millions of Americans who had paid off their college loans. Among progressives, Biden's actions are seen as half-baked, falling well short of the aggressive action they believe is necessary to address a college affordability crisis that is hindering the U.S. economy.
While there are ample critics among the 2024 field of presidential candidates, few seem to have advocated for concrete policy solutions beyond what Biden has already tried to implement.
Some of Biden's chief opponents on the left—presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy among the Democrats, Green Party candidate and philosopher Cornel West among progressives—have chastised Biden's perceived ineffectiveness on the issue. In a recent podcast appearance, West said the Democratic Party was "beyond redemption in terms of speaking to the needs of poor and working people."
"I'm thoroughly convinced that neither Democrats or Republicans put poor and working people at the center of what they're about," West said on the Black in Appalachia podcast.
Both West and Kennedy have stated in their campaign platforms—and in prior comments to Newsweek—that they intend to forgive all student loan debts if elected president. But neither has presented a tangible plan that can be compared or contrasted with Biden's approach.
As president, Biden directed his Department of Education to unilaterally forgive up to $20,000 in federally held student debt, without congressional approval, under a provision of the Heroes Act. That 2003 piece of legislation allows the education secretary to modify the rules that apply to student loans during war or national emergencies—in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the pandemic emergency over, Biden faced numerous challenges from states that said his plan was unconstitutional and potentially harmful to their state-run lending programs. The plan was ultimately struck down in June by the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority.
Some on the left, including progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, urged Biden to invoke his authority under provisions in the Higher Education Act of 1965. Legal experts have criticized the effectiveness of that approach, arguing it could stall debt relief until after the 2024 election. But after his defeat in the Supreme Court, Biden suggested he would consider using the 1965 law. Meanwhile, he has pursued piecemeal approaches designed to chip away at as much debt as he's legally able to eliminate.
In the short term, his administration has proposed policies like the creation of an "on-ramp" repayment system for borrowers. He's also moved for the elimination of millions of dollars in debt held by students at newly defunct "for-profit" institutions that allegedly misled borrowers about the credibility of their degree programs. In mid-July, Biden announced plans to eliminate the debt of some 304,000 borrowers who are 20 or more years into repayment, amounting to approximately $39 billion in loan forgiveness.
Still, the criticisms continue. Biden's unilateral approach was perceived by many as a way to sidestep the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. And Kennedy argued after June's Supreme Court decision that the famously bipartisan commander in chief should have sought student loan debt relief in Congress—even though several bills intended to address the student debt crisis from politicians of both parties have failed to gain traction during this congressional session.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House by email for comment.
While West has pushed for Biden to be more aggressive on student loan debt forgiveness, he has stopped short of articulating what his own plan would look like. Discussing Biden's plans on journalist Charles Blow's Prime show last year, West, who has spent decades in academia, criticized the Biden administration's approach, saying it should have pursued a more meaningful and immediate solution.
He didn't elaborate on what that would look like—even with Blow specifically mentioning Biden's possible options under the Higher Education Act.
"They won't fight," West said about the Biden administration. "They don't really want to do all that they can to fight for something on principle that would actually alleviate the suffering of, in this case, students. They'll give a gesture, like they're moving in a certain progressive direction, and then, the next moment, they fall right back."
Newsweek has reached out to West's campaign via email for comment.
GOP candidates for president, meanwhile, have largely avoided any mention of student loan debt reform in their platforms. Ron DeSantis has proposed forcing colleges to pick up the tab for unpaid loans or even allowing borrowers to declare bankruptcy if they are unable to afford to pay off their debts. But most Republican candidates have instead approached the issue by criticizing Biden's efforts and insisting that any solution must be legislated in Congress.
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, however, has proposed deferring interest on student loans until after students graduate. And another GOP candidate, Senator Tim Scott, co-sponsored in June a package of legislation with several other Republican members of Congress. He says it will address the underlying causes of student loan debt, including improving the quality of information available to prospective students to encourage them to pursue lower-cost options for their education.
"President Biden continues to push his illegal and unconstitutional student loan scheme, which forces hard-working Americans to shoulder debt they never signed up for," Scott said at the time.
"In stark contrast, this groundbreaking, conservative package attacks the root cause of skyrocketing student loan debt, seeks to drive down the cost of education and sets all students up to succeed," the South Carolina senator said.
About the writer
Nick Reynolds is a senior politics reporter at Newsweek. A native of Central New York, he previously worked as a ... Read more